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Baby Lyra
}} The Baby Lyra (ベビーライラ) is a Japanese 3×4 folder made by Fuji Kōgaku from 1936. Its main competitor was the Baby Pearl by Konishiroku. Description The Baby Lyra is a vertical folding camera copied on the Baby Ikonta. It has a folding frame finder. The advance knob is at the bottom right, as seen by a photographer holding the camera horizontally. The back is hinged to the left and contains two uncovered red windows to control the film advance. The name LYRA is embossed in the front leather. The FUJI KOGAKU logo is engraved in the folding struts and embossed in the back leather. The shutter is an everset Picco giving T, B, 25, 50, 100 speeds. The aperture scale is at the bottom of the shutter plate and the Picco name is at the top, with an FK logo on the right. There is no body release and the lens is front-cell focusing. Evolution The Baby Lyra was advertised in Japanese magazines from June 1936. Advertisements listed in , p.342. Advertisements dated December 1936, September 1937 and September 1938 list three versions of the camera: Advertisement by the distributor Yamamoto Shashinki-ten in Sunday Mainichi, December 13, 1936, reproduced at Gochamaze; advertisement in September 1937, reproduced in in two parts, p.100; advertisement in September 1938, observed in an online auction. * Pionar f/6.3 lens ( in 1936 and 1937, in 1938); This version is pictured here at Asacame and here in Ken's website, and has been observed in an online auction. * Terionar f/4.5 lens ( in 1936 and 1937, in 1938); This version is pictured in this page, in Zaisu, p.6 of no.57, and here at Tomei Collection. * Terionar f/3.5 lens ( in 1936 and 1937, in 1938). This version is pictured in , item 1166, and in Omoide no supuringu-kamera-ten, p.15. The focal length is certainly 50mm in all cases. The lens names are only mentioned in the September 1937 advertisement, not in the ones dated December 1936 and September 1938, but we can probably assume that they were unchanged. The last reported advertisement is dated October 1938. Advertisements listed in , p.342. However the Baby Lyra is still mentioned in the official list of set prices compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941, in three versions called "Baby Lyra L" (¥28), "Baby Lyra Y" (¥44) and "Baby Lyra R" (¥50). , type 1, sections 3, 4A and 6A. They certainly correspond to the three lens and shutter combinations described above. Their names form the word "L-Y-R" in ascending price order and this is certainly not casual. The Baby Balnet was perhaps the successor of the Baby Lyra. The Baby Leotax and the folding Baby Germa have a similar body, and were perhaps copied on the Baby Lyra. Notes Bibliography * Item 291. (See also the advertisement for item 164.) * Type 1, sections 3, 4A and 6A. * P.328. * Omoide no supuringu-kamera-ten (思い出のスプリングカメラ展, Exhibition of beloved self-erecting cameras). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 1992. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number.) P.15. * Item 1166. * Zaisu Ikon (座椅子遺恨, probably a pseudonym of Y. Saji). "Besuto sanka (B-1)" (ベスト讃歌B-1, Vest hymn B-1). In no.57 (March 1982). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. P.6. Links In English: * Baby Lyra at Tomei Collection In Japanese: * Page with a Baby Lyra in the A-Z 127 film cameras at Asacame * Baby Lyra, small picture at Ken's website * Advertisement for the Baby Lyra and Semi Lyra published in the 13 December 1936 issue of Sunday Mainichi, reproduced in the camera company page of the Gochamaze website Lyra, Baby Lyra, Baby Category: B Lyra, Baby Category: 1936